Get to Know Our Volunteers

A couple of month ago, my friend Thorhild (a Norwegian immigrant herself) told me that she had learned a saying in Norway when she was growing up. “It takes two hands to clap.” I don’t remember what we were talking about at the time, but I have been thinking about that saying on and off since she told me. In life and ministry, it’s easy to focus so much on what you need to do, and forget all the other people who help you. For this update, we hope you have a good time getting to know some of our volunteers.

“What made you get involved in Immigrant Hope?”

Name: Kevin Hometown: Brooklyn, NY Job: Banking

“God has a heart for the Immigrant, the stranger, and the vulnerable. I’ve worked with immigrants before so this seemed perfect.”

Name: Judson Hometown: Peekskill, NY Job: retired teacher

“My wife and I belong to a small group at church that includes missionaries to Peru who have adopted children. Because of that, our group was very interested when we heard about Immigrant Hope, but many were very busy. Several of us came last year to hear about it, and since I’m retired, I was the one who ended up having enough time to volunteer.”

Name: Michelle Hometown: Manhattan, NY Job: lawyer

“I have been involved with ministries to Muslims in the city. They would often ask me for immigration advice because they know I am a lawyer. I wished I had more answers for them, but I’m not an immigration lawyer. I wanted to do something practical for them.”

Name: Howard and Claudia Hometown: Clifton, NJ Job: missionaries

“We teach ESL at our church. We’ve always been asked questions by our students but never had answers. We tried looking on the internet, but were looking for more. We hope to open our own immigration ministry some day in Clifton.”